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by orphan_account



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Gen, Short, in celebration of Raleigh's not being a typical action hero
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-20
Updated: 2013-10-20
Packaged: 2017-12-29 23:30:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1011364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mako had this whole image of Raleigh in her head before she even met him.</p>
            </blockquote>





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A buzz of energy charged the air of the Hong Kong Shatterdome as famous Jaegers shipped in and star pilots appeared, swaggering through the crowds as if they didn’t notice any of it. Of course, the Wei Tang triplets had been the resident heroes of Hong Kong for years, but the addition of the old titan, Cherno Alpha, and the anticipation of Striker Eureka’s arrival added a new note of excitement to the air.

 

And then, of course, there was the nearly-rebuilt Gipsy Danger, shedding sparks and pilot-less on the staging floor. She got her share of attention, too, partly for her story and partly due to curiosity about her possibly-returning pilot. Raleigh Becket.

 

There were people here that had known him. Mako knew that Marshall Pentecost had been in Alaska’s LOCCENT when Gipsy had gone down.  When Mako asked, Tendo Choi had said, “Yeah, I worked with the Becket boys,” with a look on his face that said they’d been his friends.

 

But Raleigh Becket’s record also showed recklessness, unpredictability, an attraction to risk and showy tactics, and consistent insubordination. It was like he didn’t understand the gravity of his job, like it was all a big joyride to him. This was a type of Ranger that Mako knew all too well; she’d met Raleigh Beckets many times in the Academy and after it. The Chuck Hansen type, but without the redeeming quality of Chuck Hansen’s exceptional skill. Guys with a lot of muscle and ego and ignorance, swaggering cowboys, careless kings of their own little worlds. The kind of guys who never thought about the universe of circuits and pistons and people that kept their Jaegers going, the kind of guys who never thought much about anything.

 

Mako didn’t think Raleigh Becket would seem like much against the rock-steady and indomitable Wei Tangs and Kaidonovskys. Or even against the Striker Eureka team, for that matter, since Herc Hansen had more than earned his titles.

 

She really didn’t even want to see him in Gipsy, even though she knew that Gipsy had been his. But it was his heedlessness that had gotten Gipsy torn apart, too. He wasn’t the right man for this mission, she was sure—not for protecting others, not for working with others.

 

She’d chosen pilot candidates as best she could, based on Becket’s profile, but personally she felt sure that her candidates were more deserving of the pilot’s place than Becket was. And _she_ had rebuilt Gipsy. More than anyone else’s, Gipsy was now hers. Who could pilot her better than the person who knew her down to each bolt and rivet? Mako should be in Gipsy—but, quite apart from her teacher’s objections, she knew she’d never be Drift-compatible with Raleigh Becket.

 

As Mako stepped out into the rain to meet her teacher’s helicopter, she was mostly concerned with seeing Marshall Pentecost safely home again.

 

But then someone else appeared with her teacher, and it had to be—Raleigh Becket. He was looking around him. Yes, big, yes, bulky with muscle, and yet. He was looking around him, interested, not swaggering in like he owned the place. There was something different in the way he carried himself.

 

“He isn’t what I expected,” Mako said to her teacher, as the thought came to her.

 

“Hey,” Becket said—but gently. “Better or worse?” His eyebrows raised a little teasingly as he used her own language .

 

 _Oh_ , Mako thought. As she apologized, Becket smiled at her. Curious, thoughtful, amused. Not defensive or aggressive.

 

 _Oh_.

 

Suddenly she thought that maybe she did care what he thought of her.


End file.
